Silver: Tax Cap, Rent Control Linked, Sort Of

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, provided few new details this afternoon on whether a property-tax cap will pass the Assembly and what it would look like.

He said the issue of a property-tax cap and rent-control regulations serve the same theme of home affordability, but neither needs to be necessarily paired with the other.

“They are both about keeping people in their homes, the idea about affordability and predictability is the fundamental concept that keeps them both in the forefront,” Silver told reporters at a news conference to announce that Assembly Democrats would pass new rent-control regulations for New York City and its suburbs.

Silver said he isn’t opposed to a tax cap being at 2 percent, but said it will be all part of the decisions about a deal. And he didn’t say whether Assembly Democrats would seek any exemptions to the cap, such as pension costs.

“I think that there will be an agreed upon bill on property-tax cap, at least agreed upon with the governor as there is in terms of rent-control regulations,” Silver said, suggesting it may be Senate Republicans who hold up the process.

Senate Republicans have passed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s property-tax cap bill, and they are holding a news conference tomorrow with business groups to tout that fact. They put the onus on the Assembly to pass the bill, which Silver is sponsoring.